A visit to the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria on a very hot summer day

Entrance door to the GALLERIA NAZIONALE DELL'UMBRIA, 
Perugia, Italy 

I am writing this post as I promised one of my best Facebook friends I would write a dedicated post about my recent visit to the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. In this blog post, I would have explained a concept I had originally written in Umbrian dialect on Facebook. Indeed my friend commented that the explanation for the picture at Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria I had posted didn't get translated. The reason for disabling an automated translation is that I wrote in Umbrian dialect indeed. Dialects are codes that in Italy belong to family and friends only. That's why dialects are not listed on international translators. They are like handy communication short-cuts.

I also write in Umbrian dialect as part of my Facebook friends are Italian and I feel like using dialect in Italy makes people come closer to each other. This said I am going to try and 'translate' what I originally wrote in Umbrian dialect, namely Perugino dialect. In general, the most difficult part is translating idiomatic expressions and play-on-words from dialect to any other language but I will try to do my best. 

Benedetto Bonfigli, Angels offering roses, 1466,
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy

In my Facebook dialect post, I meant to say that last Sunday I would have met friends at the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria downtown Perugia. 

On the first Sunday of the month admission to the Italian public museums are free and we had a mission to accomplish. Therefore we thought of free admission as an invitation to accomplish our goal. Then I added that if beauty will save the world, it is most important to cultivate beauty. I also said that I don't mind at all nourishing beauty. I used an Italian idiomatic expression that goes: buttarsi a peso morto, which means 'to fling oneself into something'. However, in Italian peso translates 'weight' and the idiomatic expression 'buttarsi a peso morto' visually communicates the image of someone investing all his/her body weight into something. Right now I am a little overweight, therefore the play-on-word was that by being pretty heavy, my flinging myself into beauty would be a more efficient contribution thanks to my weight indeed. 

Giovan Battista Caporali, Saint Jerome's altarpiece, 1510-1515
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy

I have no idea if this explanation would make sense to an English speaking reader. I do not even know if I was the only Italian who enjoyed reading my post by making some self-irony. Therefore I continued my post by saying that because I used all my body weight to fling myself into cultivating beauty, there is no way I could benefit from this action of mine. One of the immediate benefits is that I can refine my body's inside, which is in my mind and soul. As a second step, I will be able to refine the outside which means losing weight. However, I wrote I can do one thing at a time only. Therefore for the second refinement, there is still some time to go. I hope I will still be on time to recover my ideal weight. Finally, I apologized to beauty if I was too much of a burden on her, still referring to my weight. The irony won't save the world, however, it helps feel much lighter! 

This is not the end of the story. I will write a new post describing the reason why we visited the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria last Sunday. What our mission was. It's a story that for the time being I have shared only with my new Facebook friend who has just become our new contributor to the Friends of Cama page on Facebook.  She is very knowledgeable and passionate about art. Follow our page and share it with friends. Help us keep beauty alive!

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Friends of Cama: the intangible heritage of a much loved Italian ceramic workshop

Translation of the article published by L'Italo-Americano on August 18th, 2014 available online in the original Italian edition: 

DERUTA talking coat of arms with the castle (Deruta)
and the Gryphon (Perugia) protecting the city. On top of the
tower a plant of rue, the herb of grace, a symbol of
good luck 

The history of the brand name “Cama” has its roots in Deruta, the most important ceramic production city in Italy. It is also linked to California and to most areas of the United States by a common thread. 

The name “Friends of Cama” was originally created by a group of American customers from the Bay Area, who in 2010 came together to raise a “crowdfunding” in order to save the ceramic factory from imminent closure.  They wanted their favourite artisan workshop to stay in business as for 30 years they had become collectors, and closure meant they would not be able to acquire any more genuine Cama pieces.  

This sincere initiative for the workshop, visited by many people, was “Cama” which is an acronym for Cooperativa Artigiana Majoliche Artistiche (Majolica Artistic Handicraft Cooperative), founded in the fifties specializing in hand-painted Renaissance dinner services.

It is thanks to the artist Elena Niccacci that the classical Deruta patterns reached their perfection, a quality much appreciated by her American customers. Elena’s style became a fashion statement on the dinner tables in many American homes, also in Starbuck’s cookery book entitled “Passion for Coffee” and in films (“Mrs Doubtfire, 1993).

In 2010 Elena Niccacci celebrated 60 years in the world of ceramics, as well as being the first woman entrepreneur to revive the Deruta classical patterns.  As a young girl, she believed passionately in her work, at a time when the art of pottery was reserved for the elite.

During difficult times for Cama, a bridge was created between the US and Italy but it needed more time and resources in order to envisage new horizons.  Reopening the workshop as it had been operating before was unprofitable and attempts to merge with another factory in Deruta were in vain.

Therefore the members of Friends of Cama began to take on a supportive role in the company’s transition and innovation. Starting from a common sharing and a great relationship with Cama’s customers, the daughter Roberta Niccacci took over the intangible heritage of the company in the search for new paths.  So far it has taken five years.  A challenge that has changed Roberta’s life.

“It has been a journey that I never imagined to do.  As each door closed I went forward.  I learnt not to give up;  to fight and to stay focused.  I became very strong because having a vision makes you resilient” said Roberta Niccacci.  “It’s like living a dream.  And I want this dream to come true.  I’m ready to celebrate with my many friends all over the world starting from the United States.  Thank you to all the friends and customers of Cama, and the people unknown to me, for supporting me in an impossible mission – never attempted in Deruta before.”

In Deruta Roberta was the face of Cama;  she took care of the clients with considerable talent together with her brother Andrea, who supports the project to make Cama revive in an original way. With the help of her Italian mentor, who believed in her potentialities, Roberta has moved from sales assistant to innovator.

Roberta Niccacci writes about her journey on the Cama Facebook page www.facebook.com/FriendsofCama and on the blog www.friendsofcama.blogspot.it.

Overcoming the vicissitudes in Italy, where she experimented, researched new methods, knocked on doors;  this year Roberta finally visited the Friends of Cama in the Bay Area returning to San Francisco after twenty years.  She has never forgotten her love for the city and her long-standing friendships.

Now Roberta’s project is ready to take the plunge, possibly with an American business partner, and make her dream come true:  to revive Cama and once again serve the loyal customers who patronized her family’s workshop. 

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ONLINE MAGAZINE --- HEALTH & BODYCARE TIPS FOR MY RESTART

Back to the Friends of Cama's blog after 10 months as of today.
Good morning from Italy!

I am back to my blog after exactly ten months as of today. I can't believe that I have let all this time go by without posting. I am feeling like I can't figure out how posting works anymore. Indeed I have spent much of my time on Facebook, interacting with new friends on interesting groups such as Italian Renaissance Art Lovers; researching and posting more than 1,000 twits on Twitter, which is also the number of likes I am heading to on my Facebook page. I wish to celebrate the 1,000 likes milestone by selecting an Italian genuine product for shoppers around the world who wish to celebrate with us. For this purpose, I have created a group on Facebook with close friends who are expert shoppers and are my sounding board.

Today I am resuming posting on this blog by writing some tips I am going to use for myself to get back in shape after winter months at home in Italy.

A benefit of taking walks is admiring the beauty
of nature and being wrapped in its perfumes

Doctors recommend taking a walk every day for about 30 minutes in order to burn unwanted body waste. That's what I have to focus on starting today. New technological tools such as a pedometer will encourage me much especially if walking alone. Also, I will have to cut on refined sugar, sweets, pasta and bread. I especially love pasta and unsalted Italian bread. Giving up on them will be a difficult thing to do. However, I'm considering them as treats when going out for dinner. The original rule said to cut on wine and alcoholic beverages, too. However, I do not drink but with friends and with my fiancé when going out to restaurants. I would go for a glass of red wine. I followed this diet last year and lost 5 kilograms (=11 pounds) the first month. In the months to follow, I kept losing weight on a steady basis. I could be persistent for a total of six months in a row and I was back in shape without exercising.

So healthy eating will be my body care and walking my personal training to be back in shape again. Walking is the new addition to last year's health program looking forward to getting back in shape sooner than last year. Therefore performance-enhancing is my goal in the next few months.

Being in shape is important if we wish to be
efficient and happy

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--->NEW! --->ONLINE MAGAZINE COMING SOON!

Italian Renaissance Art lifestyle magazine coming soon. Sharing here Italian lifestyle tips. New posts coming soon! 

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Mission Accomplished!

Mission is accomplished. Reseach is completed.  Looking forward to put my project into practice. The first requirement to me is a friend in the United States who works in pairs with me. Working in pairs is very important to me. I hope I can meet someone willing to do something innovative with me. Follow my journey. Participate to the change. Follow my daily life story on my facebook page. 

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THE MOON IS BACK AT LAST

Celestial Vault, Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, Italy 

Buongiorno from Arizona! I'm finally back with my blog's posts. I'm feeling so happy! Posts are my litmus test that inspiration is with me once again. It's definitely important for me not to stop my creative experience. Stopping means extra work to go back to where I was. That is so true. It took me a couple of months to get back on track. My last post goes back to a couple of months ago. 

Today the moon enters the friend sign of
the Scorpio.  This is so encouraging today.
Anything postive helps out!

This morning I ran into my horoscope of the day. It said that the moon has entered today the friend sign of the Scorpio and that this will bring new energies to my sign, the Cancer. I admit horoscopes nowadays cannot be considered as a  reliable source of information, however how can't we admit that the moon has an influence on people? A baby is born after nine lunar months, oceans and waters are influences by the moon, artists are inspired by the moon. It has much to do with water for the part that relates to our body. Aren't we made of water after all? It has to do with our life's origin as our emotions are concerned. We were born in water. It gives us much confidence. 

Regarding the importance of horoscope signs and planets in our lives, my mind goes to the concept of zodiac signs in Renaissance times. 

By visiting Renaissance residences such as Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, we will notice that horoscope signs are beautifully painted in many frescoes and portraits. 

In the Renaissance period horoscope signs were important. The zodiac was part of people's lives. Horoscope signs were a representation of the celestial vault divided in constellations. It was a poetical way to deviate the attention from ourselves to something universal and definitely more elevated. Nowadays we talk about mirror neurons. It looks like a scientific translation of such a concept of mirroring. We will probably end up discovering that our life experience is all a matter of mirrors, in which we see models that talk about ourselves. How about that?  

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'C' FOR CINEMA

For those of you who are following my story, you know that by tomorrow I will have been here in the United States for ten weeks. I came here to accomplish my mission of getting my startup going. It's been an amazing experience. 

While spending my time researching and networking - between virtual time and events in the city and in the Silicon Valley - I have dedicated some of my free time to watching movies. I have seen a total of nine movies in a beautiful art deco theater fully restaured and with the brightest screen in the world. 



This is the list of movies I have seen and I wish to understand why I selected them. For sure they are part of my startup story: 


1. American Hustle  (It was intriguing. I wanted to see it from the time I left Italy)
2. Pompeii (I was curious to see Pompeii's town reconstruction. Never seen it before)
3. Frozen (getting over my fears was a great accomplishment of mine in these five years)
4. Monuments Men (recommended by a new business contact. We will be in touch again and I will tell this person that I followed her suggestion)
5. Twelve Years A Slave (I wanted to see this movie following to its success at the Oscars Night)
6. 300: Rise of An Empire  (It was the only movie available when I went by the theater. I ended up liking it.)
7. NOAH  (I liked the preview and Noah's line: "I'm not alone")
8. Grand Budapest Hotel (I found it by searching a good movie to watch. Stefan Zweig is one of my favorite writers. The movie is inspired by his work.)
9. Captain America (My second 3D experience and a beautiful memory with one of my favorite actors: Robert Redford). 

There is an additional movie that I saw in these ten weeks and is linked to my startup story more than anything: Forrest Gump (1994). I wanted to see this movie and my friends set up a movie night at their home. The reason is that one of my best friends who is now our Cama business development assistant calls me Forrestina. Additionally the movie goes back to twenty years ago when I was in the United States for the first time. But this is part of a different story and it would take too long to write about it here.  Forrest Gump was my 10th movie and I loved it! I am definitely feeling like a Forrestina! 

The famous selfie at the Oscars Night 2014 that was published on twitter and went viral.

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This is my second edition  of short  stories entitled "Cake Stands for Cama": stories about my favorites starting with the letter "C". 

'R' FOR 'ROBIN'

Ardenwood Historic Farm was named after a forest
area described in Shakespeare's play 'As You Like It'. 

On Sunday I saw an American robin for the first time in my life. I saw it in a dream place. It is called 'Ardenwood Historic Farm' and is located in Fremont, on the way to Palo Alto. The farm takes its name from the William Shakepeare's play: 'As you like it'. I also saw a peacock and a ram for the first time. Big butteflies I had never seen before. These animals were all so close I could touch them.  

I was so happy to see robins hopping on the ground freely and confident in their own habitat. They live with other 99 species of birds spotted in the Ardenwood historic farm. Robins here are definitely in good company. 

I told the robins there that I have dedicated a few of my posts to them. I told them that I love them. I added that in Italy they are called 'red brests', pettirosso. I said that their cousins over in Europe are slightly different and do not lay blue eggs. However they are called the same: Robins. 

Hardenwood Historic Farm is huge. It's beautiful. I would live there. 

Ardenwood founder was George Patterson, an American 49er who came to California in search of gold. He ended up getting rich by way of the hard work coming from his art: farming. What a beautiful story! 
                          

George Patterson came to California with a dream like many other Americans in that time: finding gold. He ended up making his fortune with his own art: farming. This is the Patterson's family home. It's now part of the East Bay Regional Park District. 

To know more about 'Ardenwood Historic Farm' visit: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood
                                                                           

American Robin 

ROAR STANDS FOR ROBIN:  My new series of posts is inspired by my name: Roberta. In the United States Robin is the most common name variation for Roberta.

Robin's new borns
This is what I mean by roar. So sweet!

       

American Robin's eggs 

                          

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'C' FOR 'CITY CLAIMS'

Diet Coke Is Targeting San Francisco Techies With Tone Deaf Ads 

Upon my arrival to San Francisco I felt that the city was talking to me with a beautiful voice. Nothing had changed for me from twenty years before when I had visited the city the first time.  Things were even better as everything around me started sending written messages through witty, up-to-date campaigns. 

The first day I took the bus it kindly told me to 'hold on'. A few days later an ad on a large screen on the way home said 'there are no wrong turns'. I switch on the tv and they give me addresses of companies helping start-ups get going. 

Last but not least a sign said that it's never too late to be kind. That I certainly need a reminder for as it is the most difficult thing to do. However the most fascinating of all claims is the Coca-Cola ad, that goes like this: 

YOU MOVED TO 

San Francisco is the Renaissance city of modern times.
There are plenty of opportunities. It gives everybody a
second chance. 

SAN FRANCISCO
WITH AN IDEA
FOR A START-UP,
A NAME FOR A START-UP
AND ZERO MONEY 
FOR A START-UP.
YOU ARE ON
DIET COKE 

As of yesterday this ad was still around in the city especially in the area of the Temporary Transbay Terminal and along Market street. I love to live the moment with everybody around me fostering and playing along for making something happen.  

I love San Francisco. I love Renaissance cities! I love running with other people who are enjoying what they are doing. Making their art part of their lives. Giving their best for binging innovation. That's why in San Francisco I feel I am on! 

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This is my second edition  of short  stories entitled "Cake Stands for Cama": stories about my favorites starting with the letter "C". 

FIVE IS A MAGICAL NUMBER

Festina Lente is my favorite saying. It literally means 'make haste slowly'
which is kind of cryptic if we are not aware of its deeper meaning.
Let's go through this meaning together. Let's dig in. 

My Festina Lente research is getting more and more interesting. 

Not only do I wish to believe that the FIVE putti are the virtues' symbols of Cosimo I de' Medici: carefulness, patience, silence, and wisdom which are the virtues of the soul (slowness) along with strength which is the virtue of action (speed). 

Strength empowers speed while in action. The rest of the virtues provide the slowness that is necessary to take the right steps forward. 

Isn't that an amazing image? 

However, experts say that there is no written literature about this fresco's description the way we see it. Our best endorsement would have been the famous Renaissance scholar Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). Unfortunately, he doesn't mention any of what I am writing in his 'Ragionamenti' (tr. Insights).  

The tortoise symbol is everywhere in Palazzo Vecchio.
Cosimo I de' Medici's motto was Festina Lente. The
tortoise is his motto's symbol. 

Indeed at that time symbols to public messages through frescoes were accompanied by more pieces of information. That's why they were called didactic paintings. 

Therefore the number of putti could be just a fortuity. Nevertheless, the number five is not a fortuity from what we learn by studying the Medici's coat of arms. In particular Cosimo I de' Medici's family coat of arms. 

The Medici coat of arms was composed of orbs from the beginning of the family's history. In Italian, these orbs ('palle' in popular Italian, balls in English) are technically known as 'Bisanti' (metal uncoined disks whose name derives from the Byzantine coins, known as bezants.)

In the beginning, orbs were 11 red+ 1 blue, then 9 red+1 blue, 7 red+1 blue, and finally 5 red+ 1 blue as we know it nowadays. 

It was Cosimo I de' Medici who narrowed down the original 11 red orbs to 5 orbs as last. What seems to be quite a coincidence with Cosimo I's five virtues that were so dear to him. 

The Medici family coat of arms has five red orbs and one blue
orb. The blue orb equals the blue dot, the world.  What are
the five red orbs standing for? 

Unfortunately in this case as well as above there is no scientific confirmation from art historians that what we are writing is true. It's yet an interesting interpretation. I like this story. What if we were the first ones to come up with this discovery? How can we prove that we like this story so much to think of it as a true story?  

Alternatively, we could think of the orbs as the continents. We could take into consideration that the blue dot is the world and think of the Medici coat of arms as a symbol of power to extend all over the world. However, in the Renaissance period, they only admitted the existence of four continents, known as the four corners of the world. The world at that time was ruled by the number four: four seasons, four virtues, four cardinal directions, four elements. But it's prime numbers that are magical. And five is a magical number in particular because five is the number of the fingers that make one hand! 

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